


In The Unknown

by sunshinestealer



Category: Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 15:45:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7538557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinestealer/pseuds/sunshinestealer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna ruminates on her loneliness. (Based around the TV show and the comics.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Unknown

Father would not be back.

I had to console myself with this fact lest I lose my sanity.

Months had passed by since my fateful encounter with the Beast. I may have outfoxed the creature once, but I do not fancy my chances a second time.

Wherever my father may be, I hope that the Beast did not hunt him down like some common game. The creature appears far more frightening than any old devil -- hopefully Father will not have made a bargain with this demon.

I turn once more to my rituals, to give me a reason to get out of bed and not wallow in my miseries. I have lost two parents in the space of a year and a half, and I long for human company. Even the button sellers or the other door-to-door solicitors, where I would once scornfully turn them away, I now find myself wishing they would come by more frequently. Not that I have much of a tea set left to entertain guests with. I've smashed far too many cups in my vexation.

But still, I must remain strong. The Beast would be out in those woods, and - as I have learned - is not a mere legend of the superstitious folks.

Its form is terrifying. Not only that, but there is a foul odour that comes with the creature's passing, and the aching sentiment you feel in your body that all would be well if you were to give up hope and follow it further into the forest. I was lucky enough to have enough of my wits to remember the folk wisdom of the peddlers who came to our door weeks ago.

_'_ _The only folks safe from the Beast are those who are already in the ground, if you catch my drift.'  
_

Oh, I certainly 'caught' on to that drift.

And so I came to spend an hour hiding in a disused foxhole until I could no longer smell that characteristic stench of kerosene and Edelwood bark. 

Father praised me for my cleverness before, and I am sure he's out there, somewhere, evading the Beast with ever more wit and wisdom. He must be driving the creature into a fury. This is what I hope, at the least. Like I have said before, it is always easy for one's luck to run out. I just have to continue hoping for my father's return.

Anything to stave off the loneliness.


End file.
